Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who died in service to our country. Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday in 1971, to be celebrated on the last Monday of May.
Originally know as Decoration Day, it is believed that Memorial day started in the United States after the Civil War to remember fallen Union soldiers. This might be true, because eight southern states hold a separate memorial day for fallen Confederate soldiers.
About 5,000 people attend the Memorial Day ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery each year. A small American flag is placed on each grave and the President lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The National Moment of Remembrance, established by Congress, asks Americans wherever they are at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day to pause in an act of national unity (duration: one minute).The time 3 p.m. was chosen because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday.
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2 comments:
Thanks for the info. I never know the the 3:00PM observation. I missed it this year. Hope for next year..
I read in a PBS newsletter yesterday that the day came about after our Civil War to commemorate the fallen from both sides of the fence. This is the newsletter citation:
Today is Memorial Day, first observed on this day in 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery, where members of both the Union and Confederate Armies were buried. It was the idea of Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, who said he was creating Memorial Day, "For the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land."
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